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He's flying under the radar right now, but I think Stewart on the field is a late first/early second rounder. Elite burst off the line, and he was very versatile for Cincinnati, rushing with his hand in the dirt, dropping into coverage and even playing as a stand up pass rusher. I think he best profiles to a 3-4 OLB with his great burst, ability to run the arc and violent hands. Fairly assignment sound and does a good job setting the edge with surprising functional strength. He is somewhat undersized, and doesn't showcase a ton of versatility as a pass rusher but he's a gigh character player as well with plenty of experience (41 consecutive starts at Cincy)

With all of that said, Stewart has some other factors at play affecting his stock. It was determined during this past season at Cincy that Stewart was born without the posterior arch of the C1 vertebra. Some doctors said that he's done with football - others have said he will be ok and can play at the next level. No question this is a SERIOUS risk for any team who intends to draft him, and it'll be interesting to see where he goes in the draft and how this injury affects his stock.

Looks like, as the 2nd link show's, he's going to test out the NFL, but this is a HUGE issue, and we'll see if he medically checks out, he should go mid/late rounds, sucks as he would've been a 1st rounder if not for his injury._________________

MrDrew wrote:

Everything about Rivers is Awkward, reminiscent of a Giraffe with Down's Syndrome

Is there any information what is the specific function of that vertebrae?

Theres just so much information missing about his medical issue its sickening they can just say his career is over.

Just because it wasn't reported doesn't mean that the doctors didn't know all of the other information. It was the doctor that originally said his condition would be career ending.

It depends on the severity of the issue. here's a quote from a case study i was looking at for this specific instance...

Quote:

Currarino et al [2] classified this anomaly into five types, depending on the extent of absence of posterior arch and presence of posterior tubercle (Table 1). Type A anomaly is seen over the 90% of all posterior arch defects and present in 3% to 4% of individuals [2]. In their study, they estimated the Type B-E anomalies as 0.69% of all population. Currarino et al [2] also divided the posterior arch defects of atlas into five clinical groups: Group I - asymptomatic, their anomaly is found incidentally; Group II - neck pain or/and stiffness after trauma to neck or head; Group III - sudden neurological symptoms after neck or head trauma; Group IV - various neurological symptoms forsome time before the diagnosis of the anomaly; Group V - chronic symptoms referable to the neck......

It is important to determine the type of the defect on the posterior arch of atlas to understand the clinical significance and to prevent further neurological complication. Type A and B do not cause neurological symptoms but Type C-D are likely to cause transient quadriparesis after minor trauma even inappropriate positioning of neck and head.

So basically the implications of the injury is entirely based off of what type level of the condition it is. As the article says that most cases dont even go notices and are discovered completely accidentally, as this one was. This is a situation where because the details aren't going to be released to us, we're never going to be able to see how this injury actually effects him.

This is obviously a subject thats highly debated based on so many mixed reports from well respected doctors. So this issue may be entirely up to how a team, or a teams doctor feels about these issues._________________

MrDrew wrote:

Everything about Rivers is Awkward, reminiscent of a Giraffe with Down's Syndrome

Holy crap Top 10 if healthy? I highly doubt it. I have watched even Bearcat game for 5-6 years running and he wasn't even on the same level as Connor Barwin coming out who only played defense for one season. This is coming from a guy who would be the first to gladly overrated a Cincinnati Bearcat. I was one of the only ones who loved the John Hughes pick in the 3rd while the media bashed it as a reach.

He was a Top 50 talent before he got hurt. I got to believe this Top 10 talk is just to get people buzzing about him again after the potential career ending injiury and news of his retirement. I'm betting his agent lined some pockets to talk him up in a big way to get some attention in his direction again._________________

Athletic ability has never been the question. Really without the medical question marks I think he's a late first rounder in this draft class. Natural pass rusher off the edge. As evidenced by that pro day, good straight line speed, very good lower body explosion.

My guess is he goes in the fourth/fifth round but honestly it's still incredibly variable at this point. His stock is very dependent upon whether team doctors clear him or not and the risk level in drafting him.

Athletic ability has never been the question. Really without the medical question marks I think he's a late first rounder in this draft class. Natural pass rusher off the edge. As evidenced by that pro day, good straight line speed, very good lower body explosion.

My guess is he goes in the fourth/fifth round but honestly it's still incredibly variable at this point. His stock is very dependent upon whether team doctors clear him or not and the risk level in drafting him.

If he needed to sign a waiver in order to just work out, there is no chance that he will get drafted

Athletic ability has never been the question. Really without the medical question marks I think he's a late first rounder in this draft class. Natural pass rusher off the edge. As evidenced by that pro day, good straight line speed, very good lower body explosion.

My guess is he goes in the fourth/fifth round but honestly it's still incredibly variable at this point. His stock is very dependent upon whether team doctors clear him or not and the risk level in drafting him.

If he needed to sign a waiver in order to just work out, there is no chance that he will get drafted

I think that was just for a pro day, so the school was not at fault allowing him to participate. This is an issue that is very polarizing. Once bones heal, their stable, and his has, it seems, but the simple fact that the fracture happened where it did is a dead turnoff for a lot of doctors. There will be a doctor that will clear him out of 32 teams IMO, despite how disputed this injury is._________________

MrDrew wrote:

Everything about Rivers is Awkward, reminiscent of a Giraffe with Down's Syndrome

I'm really praying he checks out medically. He's got great heart and motor, and a very similar skill set to Dion Jordan. He may play with less finesse than Dion, more aggressive. I think Mayock might be right, if it wasn't for the medical issue, he may be a top 10 pick. Still very risky, but I'd love the Titans to grab him late or as an UDFA.